Automobile jack



Nov. 16, 1937. c. w. JOHNSON ET AL AUTOMOBILE JACK Filed March 25, 19352 Sheets-Sheet 1 NGV. 16, 1937. c. w Q N r AL I v AUTOMOBILE JACK FiledMarch 25, 1935 2 Shets-Sheet 2 r r 2 I Z7 25 12 22 J6 18 J5 37 51'; 252g 36 .23

ii 41] J3 2 20" 25 Patented Nov. 16, 1937 PAT ENT OFFICE AUTOMOBILE JACKCarl W. Johnson, Glencoe, and Gilbert M. Smith,

Congress Park, 111;; said Smith assignor to I said Johnson ApplicationMarch 25, 1935, Serial No..12,766

3* Claims.

ur .inventioni contemplates and provides a novel and improvedrjackadapted to be applied to the bumper of an automobile and to be operatedwith easeand facility by a person standing clear of the 'vel'licle;v

Our jack; inlits' preferred embodiment herein described and claimed;comprises a rack-bar which is detachably received and supported bytheupper end of a: standard which in turn has its lower end articulatedin a suitable base. Embracing the rack-bar, and vertically. movable wlthrespect thereto,.is a gear housing provided with bifurcations for thereception of bumper bars, or bumper'bar brackets, of differentthicknesses. Vertical movement of the gear housing on the.- rack-bar'isaccomplished by rotation of a spurgear which is'permanently inrmesh withthe rack-bar and adaptedto be. driven up or down therack-barithroughtheagency'of a worm gear and itscq-operating worm,-the said worm operatingon an axis inclined to the horizontaland being arranged for detachablecooperation with awrench held and operatedby a person standing alongsidethe jack and: away fromthe 'vehicle to be lifted;

Otherfeature's-, objects and advantages of our inventionwillappear "fromthe following detailed descriptiongwherein reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Fig; 1 is an elevational viewillustrating our improved jack applied to the" rear bumper bar of an;automobile of modern design;

' Fig. Z'is a side view of the jack in which certain parts of thestructure are broken away for clearness in illustrationthe gear housingsection in this figure being taken on the line '2"- 2' of 'Fig. 3, andlooking in the direction indicated by the arrows; Fig. 3 is a-front viewof the jack in which certain parts of the structure are shown insection;

Fig: 4 is arear elevational view of the gear housing and a fragment ofthe'rack-bar, which view may beiregarded as taken from the plane of theline 4-4 of Fig. 2, and looking in the direction indicatedby'the arrows;

Fig. 5? is a fragmentary sectional detail view taken on the line 55 ofFig. 4,.and looking in the direction indicated by the arrows; I Fig. 6is a horizontalsectional view taken on the line 66" of Fig. 3, andlooking in thedirection: indicated by the-*arrows;' and Fig. 7 is asectional detail view taken on the line'of'll of Fig. 2; and looking inthe direction indicated by" the arrows;

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts throughout theseveral views.

As illustrated in, the drawings, our jackcomprises a rack-bar providedwith a lower end portion II for detachable reception in acorrespondingly shaped receptacle [2 formed in the upper end of avertical standard I3. It is preferred that the rack-bar portion H andits receptacle l2- be circularin transverse section, as shown, so thatthe formerxmay be turned in the latter as the hereinafter mentioned gearhousing is being propelled'upwardly on the rackbar. The rack-bar is alsopreferably provided with-anintegral flange M whichrests on the top ofstandardv l3;

The lower end of the standard I3 is articulated, by the heavy pivot pin[5, toand between the upstanding spaced flanges l6l6 of the basel'l,-the arrangement being such that the bottom of the base may be swunginto parallelism with one of the longitudinal surfaces" of r thestandard for convenience in packing the jack into a tool box.

Embracing the rack-bar I0 is a vertically movable two-piecegear housingl8 which is provide'd'with aligned rectangular openings l9 and throughwhich the rack-bar slidably extends. The two parts of the gear housingare joined in a plane which includes the axis of the worm .presentlytobe mentioned,and are conveniently secured together by rivets 2|, 2|extending through abutting flanges 22, 22.

Journalled in the gear housing I8 is a horizontal shaft 23 to whichisspli'ned a spur gear 24, which is in mesh with the teeth of rack-barI0. Also splined to shaft 23 is a worm gear 25, which is permanently indriven relation, and never in driving relation, to a worm 26, which inturn is splined upon shaft 21. Shaft 21 has radial and thrust bearingsin the gear housing.

Attention is directed to the fact that the axis of worm shaft 21 isinclined. to the horizontal, its lower end being concave for cooperationwith the thrust bearing ball 28. Its upper end 29, which projects" outof the gear housing, is of hexagonal or square cross section forcooperation with the socket of a suitable wrench. Shaft 21 is preferablyprovided with an integral annular flange 30 to lie between the gearhousing and a wrenchv socket applied to the portion 29 of "the shaft. 7

That portion of shaft 21 which occupies its upper radial bearing isdesirably provided with an annular groove 31, which is traversed'by pin32 to limit axial movement of shaft 27 relative to its bearings.

Formed integral with the rear face of the gear housing is an upwardlyopening hook 33 arranged to engage the lower edge of a bumper, or bumperbar bracket, to which the jack is applied. The inner surface 34 of thehook inclines downwardly toward the adjacent vertical surface 35 of thehousing, so that the hook will readily accommodate itself to bumperbars, or bumper bar brackets, of different thicknesses. face 35 of thegear housing may be provided with a rubber cushion 36 held in positionby having integral frusto-conical lugs 31, 31, sprung intocorrespondingly shaped apertures formed in that wall of the gear housingto'which the cushion is applied. The cushion serves to prevent marringof an exposed finished surface of a bumper bar engaged by hook 33.

Formed integral with the top of the gear housing, is a heavy bifurcatedlug 38 defining a V-slot 39 for the reception of bumper bars or bumperbar brackets of different thicknesses. Usually, in the use of the jack,the hook 33 is utilized when a bumper bar is to be engaged, and thebifurcated lug is utilized when a bumper bar bracket is to be engaged.

' At 40, in Fig. 1, we have illustrated a wrench having a socket fordetachable cooperation with the protruding portion 29 of the worm shaft21.

The jack is most conveniently kept in a tool box with the rack-bar l0and standard l3 disconnected, and with base I! turned alongside one ofthe longitudinal surfaces of the standard I3.

When the jack is to be used, the base I! is turned to the position shownin the drawings, and the lower end of the rack bar is fitted into thestandard. The worm shaft 21 is now operated, by right hand turning ofwrench 40, to cause spur gear 30 to carry gear housing l8 up- Wardly onrack-bar l0 until either hook 33, or bifurcated. lug 38, has embracedand accommodated itself to the lower edge of a bumper bar or bumper barbracket.

While the gear housing is being moved upwardly on the rack-bar, it maybe shifted laterally, around the axes represented bypin l5 and rackbarportion II, to steer either hook 33 or bifurcated lug 38, as the casemay be, into alignment and registry with the bumper bar or bumper barbracket which said hook or lug is to engage.

We find that all necessary movements of the jack, after it has beenassembled and placed in the substantially correct vertical position, maybe effected by manipulation of the wrench alone.

While the wrench 46 may be of the type having a socket provided with aball plunger adapted to engage in recess 41 in the protruding portion 29of the worm shaft 21, we achieve entirely satisfactory results whenoperating. our jack with a wrench having a plain socket for reception ofthe worm shaft extremity 29. The fact that shaft 21 is inclined to thehorizontal, makes it extremely easy to shift the jack housing to andfro, to get proper alignment with the bumper bar or bumper bar bracket,by manipulation of the socket wrench engaging shaft portion 29, andwithout there being any necessity for the operator grasping any part ofthe jack proper.

After either hook 33 or bifurcated lug 38 has accommodated itself toeither a bumper bar or bumper bar bracket, the bumper, and the portionsof the automobile to which it is attached, are forced upwardly to therequisite height by right hand turning of the wrench by an opera- Ifdesired, the surtor standing alongside the jack on the side thereofwhich lies away from the automobile.

Due to the fact that worm gear 25 and its associated spur gear 24 arealways in driven relation, but never in driving relation, to worm 26,the gear housing and automobile parts supported thereby areautomatically locked in the elevated positions to which they are carriedby right hand rotation of the jack wrench. I

When the purposes of the jack have been served, the wrench, beingapplied to the worm shaft extremity 29, is turned in the left handdirection until the gear housing has disengaged and cleared the bumperbar or bumper bar bracket to which it was applied. The rack-bar l0 maythen be removed from standard l3, the base I! may be turned alongsidestandard l3, and the disassembled jack may then be put away, in a smallspace, in a tool box or the like.

It will thus be understood that we have provided a simple, sturdy andeasily manipulated jack which is particularly suited to theljackingrequirements of present-day automobiles which, with their knee actionwheels, shortened chassis frames and overhanging bodies, render jackingwith old style jacks very difiicult, unsafe and disagreeable and, inmany cases, impossible.

When in the appended claims we mention a bumper, we mean to include notonly the impact bar thereof, but also the supporting brackets, usuallyof strap steel, by which the impact bar is attached to the body orchassis of an automobile.

What we claim is new and desire to, secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. A jack comprising a rack-bar of rectangular cross-section, a lowerbar in alignment therewith of substantially the same length on which therack-bar is mounted for rotation around its axis, a base whereon thelower end of the lower bar is connected for pivotal movement on ahorizontal axis, a housing having an opening similar in shape to saidcross-section, mountedon the rack-bar for longitudinal movement thereona gear journalled by the housing and cooperating with the'teeth of therack-bar to propel the housing along the rack-bar as said, gear isrotated, non-reversible driving means for said gear comprising anelement for engagement with and rotation by a suitable wrench, a wormmounted on said element and a worm gear operable there by to drive thesaid first gear, and a channel defined by the housing and opening towardthat end of the rack-bar which lies away from the base, said channelbeing adapted to receive the lower edge of a bumper bar and beingcapable of being brought into proper registry therewith by manipulationof the wrench utilized to actuate the gear driving means, the housingbeing capable of to-and-fro movement in one direction only and rotarymovement about its axis.

2. A jack comprising a base, a riser in the form of a bar pivotallymounted on said baseabout a horizontal axis, a rack-bar of rectangularcrosssection of substantially the same length mounted .on the upper endof said bar in alignment therewith so that it can rotate on said baraboutits longitudinal axis, a housing having an opening similar to saidcross-section mounted to travel on and longitudinally of the rack-bar,non-reversible propelling means carried by the housing cooperating withthe rack-bar to effect movements of the housing longitudinally of therackbar, and said propelling means comprising an element arranged forcooperation with and 1:0-

tation by a suitable manually actuated wrench, a worm mounted on saidelement, a worm gear in mesh therewith mounted in said housing and agear operatively connected to said worm gear cooperating with saidrack-bar, said housing being provided with a channel which opens withoutobstruction towards that end of the rack-bar which lies away from thebase, whereby the operator, by manipulation of the wrench may steer saidchannel into alignment with the lower edge of a bumper bar while thehousing, by rotation of the same wrench, is being propelled upwardlytoward that bumper bar.

down thereon, and means carried by said hous- 10 ing for engaging anarticle to be raised.

CARL W. JOHNSON. GILBERT M. SMITH.

